This change of training format proved so successful that I now take all 'freshies' and teach them how to skate, stop and fall derby style. Once they have reached the require standards they then get to join the main squad to learn how to hit, block and play derby. However getting to this fledging point is certainly not painless and requires new skaters to go outside their usual comfort zones as they push their bodies and minds into places that are just alien.

Having taken numerous skaters through this process now its clear that more commitment and effort they put into this the faster they get to move up. I am often asked why I take the new skaters and what I get out of it....for me the payback comes when that skater starts bouting for the team. At that point the hard work of the training team bares fruit as we have successfully taken a non-skater and turned them into a Bandita with a t-shirt to prove it....well not a real t-shirt but certainly the best styled squad kit in UK Roller Derby (a'hem Taut).